Red Alliance: The Chronicles of the Donner, #2

By Sean Monaghan

After the wreck of The Donner on the planet Ludelle, Matti-Jay and the others face desperation every day. Surviving relies on their wits and good luck.

When an alien emergency threatens their camp, Matti-Jay must fight with every resource at her command.

Otherwise they may never see home again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Triple V Publishing
• Release date: Jun 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393295341

Sean Monaghan

Award-winning author, Sean Monaghan has published more than one hundred stories in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and in New Zealand, where he makes his home. A regular contributor to Asimov’s, his story “Crimson Birds of Small Miracles”, set in the art world of Shilinka Switalla, won both the Sir Julius Vogel Award, and the Asimov’s Readers Poll Award, for best short story. He is a past winner of the Jim Baen Memorial Award, and the Amazing Stories Award. Sean writes from a nook in a corner of his 110 year old home, usually listening to eighties music. Award-winning author, Sean Monaghan has published more than one hundred stories in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and in New Zealand, where he makes his home. A regular contributor to Asimov’s, his story “Crimson Birds of Small Miracles”, set in the art world of Shilinka Switalla, won both the Sir Julius Vogel Award, and the Asimov’s Readers Poll Award, for best short story. He is a past winner of the Jim Baen Memorial Award, and the Amazing Stories Award. Sean writes from a nook in a corner of his 110 year old home, usually listening to eighties music.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Matti-Jay Menthony crouched at the rocky promontory, squinting into the bright evening sunlight. Here, a hundred meters above the tops of the forest laid out in the deep valley, she had views that felt like they went on forever.

Well, at least three valleys over. The ridges became a deeper blue as they became more distant. This part of Ludelle 8 was lush with thick forest. From below came the cries of birds and some of the odd chittery monkey-like things she and other survivors had seen before.

The rocks were solid and warm. Exposed to the brilliant light from Ludelle—the sun—all day, they just about burned. Matti-Jay didn't mind. One of the frequent localized showers had drenched her on the way up here. The warmth from the rocks helped her dry out.

Her aging set of ship's overalls were wearing out. Daily wear deep in the forest tended to do that. The dark blue overalls were designed for life aboard the very controlled environment of a vessel. Not for scrabbling around on your knees, or climbing trees or wading through rivers.

Her set were fraying at the ankles and wrists, and were coming apart at the right shoulder.

A spiny thicket beside her smelled oily. Like turpentine. It had tiny yellow flowers, and little black insects buzzed around, gathering sweet nectar.

Buzzing insects, like bees. That could mean honey. And a bush that smelled oily. That could mean good fuel for fires. Even for engines if the group could figure out how to refine it.

The surviving crew of the Donner had so much to learn out here, as they attempted to live long enough to get rescue from Earth.

Three months so far.

Mostly they just had shelters and some fishing.

Out in this valley she was watching, there were a few clearings. That offered some possibility for her group. Clearings suggested a variation in vegetation. Root vegetables, and maybe fruiting bushes. Easier things for them to exploit to process edible food.

To the right, the north, there stood one of the alien buildings that were so seemingly randomly dotted around the planet. This one was unusual. Cylindrical, with a twisted, tapered cone on the roof. Colored a lighter green than the forest around it. The building's tip rose just above the level of the trees.

Interesting.

But perhaps not quite as interesting as the thin tendril of smoke came from one of the other clearings. Three things from that. One, it could be dangerous. There had been a lightning storm the previous night. Maybe a strike had ignited some dead wood. Maybe a forest fire would take hold.

There had been plenty of rain, so the forest was wet. They just didn't know enough about the processes here on Ludelle yet. Everything came with the mantra proceed with caution.

The other thing was that it could be more survivors. The group had come down over a relatively small area, but there were still places to look.

The third thing, and the most distant, most unlikely, and most hopeful thing, was that it might just vaguely be the wreck site of the Blue Defender.

One of the runabouts from the Donner, the Blue Defender, official designation ExR13, for External Runabout number thirteen, had been Matti-Jay's lifeboat when the Donner had crashed. The group had plenty of parts from other vessels, but the Blue Defender was—had been—their only operating vessel. And then, only just.

Ten days back, the runabout had disappeared. They'd been using it to fly out and look for survivors with its cameras and sensor equipment. So far it had found two people, Nera and Cale. Also some of the supply pods.

Then then it had gone missing on one flight. Dropped off the tracking and vanished. Taking Alison with it.

Searches had proven useless.

And much harder, given that the Blue Defender had gone too.

Matti-Jay had liked Alison, and felt guilty. Blue Defender was kind of Matti-Jay's runabout. She shouldn't let herself get attached to something that was really just a piece of equipment, but the ship had saved her life. They'd been through a lot together.

Guilty because she felt sadder about the loss of the runabout than she did about Alison. An actual person.

Matti-Jay took a breath. Too easy to get swirled up in worry and blame and doubt. When there were so many things to get done.

It was all a matter of survival.

She took a few steps back to the nearest of the trees. It was mature, but slim-trunked. Barely wider than her own waist. The tree was hardy, the trunk gnarled and ropey. Tough, from living at the edge of the rocks here, where the soil was thin and poor.

But the trunk was sturdy. And the branches were nicely spaced. It was like some kind of pine back on Earth, with thin needles and fat balls for seed cones.

Matti-Jay grabbed a branch and climbed. It could be surprising how a few extra meters could afford a much better view.

The bark was hard against her palms, and sticky in places from sap.

A brushing sound came from back along the narrow rough path Matti-Jay had followed to reach the promontory. Forested thickly. In places exposed rocks held strappy tree roots and little moss gardens in crooks and crevices. The forest could be very beautiful.

And very dangerous.

Either an animal coming. Or one of the crew.

Proceed with caution. A good mantra.

Hey! Matti-Jay called back.

She dropped back to the ground. Her boots thumped.

The path was an animal trail. Mostly. In some parts she'd had to push through thicker undergrowth to continue on.

Strictly she shouldn't be coming out here alone. Especially not so far from camp. She'd crossed over a ridge and a valley from the encampment. At least four kilometers. The day was warm and for the most part the paths she'd followed were easy going.

Plenty of undergrowth in the Ludelle forests, but also plenty of parts where there was very little. Some of the species of trees shed their leaves and branches, making the understory struggle. Especially with such a thick canopy. Parts were just about dark as night.

Which would be a bad spot to encounter a predator, or even some automaton left behind by the vanished civilization.

Matti-Jay had dealt with those kinds of things enough in her time out here. In their brief time orbiting in the Donner, they'd observed various segments of that alien civilization. Buildings and infrastructure and, maybe, sculptures.

And automatons.

From the space-borne dragon-ship that had brought down the Donner and Matti-Jay's own runabout the Blue Defender, to the striding robots that seemed to have not noticed that their creators had vanished. The robots continued with their functions. As if there was someone to report to.

This part of the forest, though, Matti-Jay's crew mates hadn't seen anything that suggested the civilization had existed at all. It was like a giant forest park. Sectioned off and protected from development.

Like a whole lot of parts back on Earth. From America's Yosemite to the Black Forest in Germany to Fiordland deep in New Zealand's south.

Any advanced civilization was going to set aside places like this.

Except that there were no aliens left here. They'd abandoned the place.

Matti-Jay wished that she and the others could investigate the reasons more. Why had the aliens vanished? Why had they left behind so much of their operating equipment?

Thing was, the Donner's survivors were hurt and tired and struggling. There wasn't any time to conduct any investigations.

Every ounce of energy they had was devoted to survival. That and rescue.

The sound continued. Someone or something coming up toward her.

Matti-Jay pulled her blade from the sheath at her waist.

Charlie and Sildra had worked on creating knife blades for everyone. From pieces of hull wreckage. Simple aluminum-plastic knives that were a bit too stiff and not quite sharp enough.

But it was something. And it specifically aided their survival. It gave them weapons against predators. And it gave them a way to gather nutrition.

They had salvaged some food dispensers from some of the runabouts that had come down. Nothing working right, but with some tinkering, they'd been able to get some supplementary food items.

Matti-Jay held the blade backward in her right hand. Hilt in her fist, butt right by her thumb. Blade paralleling her forearm.

Exactly how Nicole Berring had shown her in training back aboard the Donner.

More leverage, Nicole had said. Better chance of holding onto the knife.

Nicole had survived the attack on the Donner, escaping aboard the Marauder. Except that the Marauder had been destroyed too. Nicole had perished.

Eighteen of them had survived. From a complement of three hundred.

And now their survival was being challenged every day.

Hey! Matti-Jay called again.

No response.

Her body tingled. Ready for action. Ready to defend herself.

The animal kept coming. Pushing through branches, crackling through the twigs and sticks on the ground. The animal wasn't even trying to conceal itself.

Which was unusual. Predators usually snuck up on their prey. It was a virtual certainty.

Matti-Jay glimpsed movement through the gaps in the trees. A dark shape.

But then, another sound over the swishes and snaps. A whirring. Mechanical.

The shape pushed up into a patch of sunlight. Coming into view.

Dub! Matti-Jay said.

The display on Dub's football-shaped head flickered. Then showed, Hello Matti-Jay.

Dub was one of the quadruped robots left behind by the civilization. Naturally tall—well over two meters high—and walking on four spindly legs, Dub had helped Matti-Jay out numerous times. It was instinctively friendly and protective.

Dub had even sacrificed itself protecting her, losing its whole body. Matti-Jay had been able to use microbots from the Blue Defender's automatic repair systems, to work on repairing Dub.

Now Dub could communicate using a simple matrix display on its head. The size of Matti-Jay's palm, the display could show a few words at a time. Dub was very clever with communicating a whole lot using just a few words. Highlighting things with color. Right now a soft blue, but if things were urgent, it would be red. Even flashing.

Dub could also understand anything Matti-Jay, or anyone else, said. Pretty smart.

And, the robot could get around courtesy of a rebuilt body.

Not quite what it had had when Matti-Jay had first encountered it, but, enough. Six simple motorized legs, a battery with a seven to ten-hour charge, depending on how active Dub got, and two simple manipulator arms.

Dub recharged its new body, courtesy of the microbots too. Using its arms, the robot gathered leafy plant material and stuffed it into a hopper slot on its new back. A tiny vat engine converted the cellulose and other similar chemicals into fuel hydrocarbons, which in turn ran a fuel cell.

It was a very efficient system.

Matti-Jay stood and hugged Dub. The manipulator arms came around her. Did Dub understand the significance of personal contact?

Unlikely. But it did play the game.

Matti-Jay stepped back. There's something going on the valley here, she said. Take a look. She pointed out over the rocky promontory.

The tendril of smoke had thickened now. Maybe the fire taking hold. Or someone stoking it.

Dub stepped onto the promontory, feet clicking on the rock.

Dub had numerous cameras and other observational equipment built into its head. Dub would gather better imagery than Matti-Jay could.

Dub watched for a moment and turned to Matti-Jay.

Data gathered, the display said. Then, Charlie says come back.

Charlie? Why?

Charlie says come back.

I'll come back soon. Matti-Jay watched the smoke. They would have to get a group to come investigate. See if there were more survivors.

They had to find everyone.

Charlie says come back.

Important huh?

Yes. Dub's display flashed. On and off.

Yes. Off. Yes.

Then. Hurry. Urgent.

Charlie says come back.

All right, Matti-Jay said. If it's urgent. She took a last look back across the new valley and hurried back along the jumbled animal trail.

Dub followed along right behind.

CHAPTER TWO

Hurry . Urgent .

Matti-Jay hurried down along the rough path that wasn't really a path. She shoved through stiff, rustling branches. The bark was hard and jagged under her hands. Sometimes switches swiped at her face. She ducked and hustled.

Dub came behind. Quick and agile on its new legs. Dub gave a quiet hoot.

All right, Matti-Jay said. I'm not going to trip, you know.

Dub didn't reply.

Faithful alien robot sidekick. Since they'd first met, Dub had been very busy, but had also looked out for her. Something deep in its programming?

Matti-Jay slowed. Took each step more carefully. Mostly the trail was fine, but in places there were exposed roots that could trip her, and rocky sections where she could turn an ankle.

There were odd pungent smells around, and sometimes she would see the source. Animal scat. Little brown or yellow deposits left at the side of the trail.

From all around came the chatter of birds. From deep long clunks and chuckles, to short burst of high-pitched trills. All hidden away in the foliage. Many of the birds sported dark plumage. Blacks and deep blues. Light brown speckles on dark brown breasts. But a few had interesting feathers. Some long tasseled tails, bright yellow tips on their wing feathers, one small species was jet black but with a single dangling bright orange feather that stuck up right from the crowns of their heads. Like a lure on a line.

The whole area was kind of welcoming. As if this was the very spot the crew should have set down to establish the temporary colony.

Maybe they would have if the ship had actually landed rather than disintegrating as it fell through the atmosphere.

Which was something. An almost idyllic area to set up their camp.

Could have been a hostile desert, or some barren mountainous area. Even somewhere near the poles, with endless ice fields.

The survivors had built shelters from a combination of local materials—wood and stone mostly—and from parts retrieved from their ruined ships. Runabouts and escape pods that had been torn apart on re-entry and landing.

Why did they call it re-entry anyway? This was the first time any of these ships had landed here at Ludelle.

Pieces of them lay around the camp. Hull plates and wiring, landing gear and engine parts. Like a graveyard. Nothing much salvageable for creating another vessel. The Blue Defender had been their only operating craft. And she'd taken a lot of maintenance and repair to keep working.

Matti-Jay came to the base of valley she'd traversed to reach the rocky promontory. A trickle of a stream ran down, playing over smooth stones and sandy banks. There were parts of the banks that were almost clear, other parts where the boggy grasses lay almost flat.

There had been a flood through here sometime recently. These little valleys could be like funnels for cloudbursts.

Some tiny fish played in one of the eddying pools. Too small to catch and take home for a meal.

The encampment was doing all right, with traps in that valley's river catching three and